HE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL did not reform the liturgy. The fathers merely formulated principles for reform. 1 The actual task of changing the liturgy was left to Pope Paul VI. Would you like to see the authentic books which gave us the Lectionary and Gradual of Vatican II? These are extremely rare, but you can download them here:
* * Ordo Lectionum Missae (orig 1969)
* * Ordo Cantus Missæ (orig 1970)
The Lectionary & Gradual are presented as never before in an exciting new congregational book that begins shipping 14 May 2014.
THE RESULTS of the Ordo Lectionum Missae are in the 1975 Lectionary. The results of the Ordo Cantus Missae are in the 1974 Graduale Romanum. Translations of the OCM’s Introduction are easily found, but English translations of the OCM are not, so we uploaded three versions.
The following video explains the significance of the Jogues Illuminated Missal:
IS IT NOT PECULIAR that the Jogues Missal is the first to highlight the Gradual as Vatican II intended? Yes, but remember that many “odd” things happened after the Council. Listen to the words of Cardinal Stickler, a peritus at the Second Vatican Council, who talks about the vernacular’s introduction into the liturgy (which formerly had been entirely in Latin):
“I still remember very well how after several radical proposals a Sicilian bishop rose and implored the fathers to allow caution and reason to reign on this point, because otherwise there would be the danger that the entire Mass might be held in the language of the people—whereupon the entire hall burst into uproarious laughter.”
As Fr. Georg May (renowned Canonist) has reminded us, when Vatican II decreed that Latin be preserved in the liturgy, the document employed the subjunctive verb (“servetur”) clearly expressing a command, not merely a recommendation.
Speaking of Latin, the OLM shows that errors sometimes exist in the official books (as Fr. Felix Just has documented), and not just the English versions. For example:
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Ecce vénio, Dómine, ut fáciam voluntátem tuam.March 25th (Annunciation)
Ecce vénio, Dómine, fácere voluntátem tuam.
Both are technically correct (although experts would most likely prefer the first) but there shouldn’t be two versions of the exact same antiphon.
AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED in 2007 by a leader of the “progressive” liturgical camp claimed that the ORDO CANTUS MISSAE only applies to Masses said entirely in Latin. Such an argument cannot be maintained. For one thing, there’s no such thing as a Mass said “entirely in Latin.” At a minimum, there will be a mixture of languages: Greek for the KYRIE, Hebrew for ALLELUIA/AMEN, and so forth. Whether we like it or not, the Council mandated that Latin be maintained in the liturgy, and Gregorian chant be given first place in liturgical ceremonies.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 It’s not wrong to say “Vatican II Lectionary” or “Vatican II Liturgy” because it would be cumbersome and confusing to constantly say “the reformed liturgy that was called for by the Second Vatican Council, but whose actual creation took place under Pope Paul VI.”
